This invention relates generally to devices for tethering horses and other livestock and, more particularly to an improved tether device that allows a handler to quickly tie and untie animals using just one hand.
In the past, horses have been tied to hitching rails, fences, trees, etc. These methods of tethering horses have been disadvantageous in that they all require that the handler use both hands to tie and untie the knots that are required to secure the free end of a lead rope.
It would therefore be advantageous to provide an improved tether device for horses and other livestock that allows the handler to quickly and easily secure and release the free end of a rope to which the animal is tethered.
In accordance with the illustrated preferred embodiment of the present invention, a tether device is provided to include a flat rear mounting plate for fixedly mounting the device to a stall or barn wall, for example. A web plate is formed to protrude perpendicularly forward from the mounting plate. A rope slot is formed in the space between an upwardly extending hook portion of the web plate and the rear mounting plate. A spring clip is hingedly attached to the rear mounting plate in alignment with the hook portion of the web plate, the spring clip being arranged to urge itself into a quiescent position against the inner surface of the hook portion of the web plate. A pawl having a toothed, arcuate peripheral surface facing an inner surface of the web plate, is hingedly mounted to the front surface of the rear mounting plate. A coil spring positioned between the pawl and the rear mounting plate serves to rotate the toothed peripheral surface of the pawl upward into a quiescent position against the inner surface of the web plate.